


Better at negotiating than Ariel

by halfdecenthumanbeing



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, but my tdp blog was deleted so i think this was lost, mermaid au, might continue this but probs not bc im a lazy disaster, this was for raydia week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 20:25:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17752895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfdecenthumanbeing/pseuds/halfdecenthumanbeing





	Better at negotiating than Ariel

“How did you convince father to let us come? I’ve been begging him for days.”

“I promised when he went back home I’d help him in the lab every evening for two weeks.”

Soren stops on his tracks and turns to Claudia. He hugs her, lifting and spinning her around.

“You are the best baby sister in the history of baby sisters!”

She slaps at his chest until she puts her down, the both of them laughing as she smoothes her hair down and sticks her tongue out at her brother.

“I knew how badly you wanted to see Marcos compete.” His smiles widens even more at that and he looks ready to spin her around again, so she quickly continues. “Plus Callum and Ez are always gushing about this beach and the hidden cave they found, and I wanted to check it out to see if it’s really as cool as they say.”

“Is the cave the only thing you’re gonna be checking out?”

He’s wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, and she smacks his shoulder as hard as she can, but he doesn’t even stumble. Stupidly muscular brother.

“Go look for your boyfriend already, you doofus. I’ll go for a little swim, so look for me at the water when you’re done.”

“Be careful, there are dangerous things in this waters!”

Soren practically runs away laughing and Claudia rolls her eyes affectionately. It’s kind of endearing, how in love he is and how excited he gets every time Marcos is mentioned or even when he crosses his mind, hurrying like he can’t see him soon enough. She’s almost mature enough to admit she wants the same for herself. Too bad it’s not as easy.

She walks along the shore for a while, until the sound of children and the excitement of the competition is nothing but a distant murmur. She recalls Callum’s indications on where to find the cave, and after a couple tries she gets it right, finding what seems to be a hole on the rocks but widens to make an entrance as she gets closer to it. Deeming it an appropriate and secluded enough place, she starts taking off her shoes, socks and jeans and folds and leaves them on the sand. 

Slowly, she walks into the sea until the water reaches her waist, then she dives in. She thinks she heard something, but dismisses it and continues swimming, her body quickly adapting to the water like she never left. Claudia feels her legs change into a scaley tail and a laugh bubbles out of her mouth, joy taking over, the sensation of freedom overwhelming her for a moment before she springs into action, swimming and looping as fast as she can. It’s only when she jumps out of the water that her joy dims. Because there, on the shore, is a human, holding out Claudia’s jeans and looking dumbfounded and open-mouthed at the mermaid now in front of her. 

“Oh fuck.”

 

\---

 

After slowly getting closer to the shore, Claudia carefully shifted back and reached for her jeans, putting them on when the human turned her back to give her some privacy.

“So. Did you give up your voice or…”

The girl trailed off and Claudia had to laugh. The Little Mermaid references as first reaction? She liked this one, which was good, considering she had just found out Claudia’s most important secret. 

“Nah, I get the legs, the tail AND the voice. I’m way better at negotiating than Ariel. I’m decent, you can turn around now.”

She does, and Claudia’s breath catches in her throat. She had been so worried about a human seeing her mermaid form that she hadn’t realized how beautiful the girl was. White hair, light purple eyes that only shone brighter thanks to the darker purple paint under them, and some light freckles that Claudia felt the impulse to trail her fingers over. Shaking off those thoughts, she waved lightly and smiled.

“Hi, my name is Claudia, the mermaid you just stumbled upon.”

“I’m Rayla, nice to meet you. My friend Callum told me about this cave and I didn’t think anyone else would be here. I saw someone get in the water, and since I didn’t see anyone come out I was going to get in. I didn’t mean to uh, interrupt you.”

Red dusted her cheeks, and Claudia decided it looked good on her. Now that she mentioned him, Claudia remembered Callum mentioning Rayla, and immediately felt herself relax. Callum had good taste in friends, so that probably meant Rayla was trustworthy or wasn’t going to sell her out to the government for them to experiment. That was always nice.

“It’s okay, I came here for the same reason and didn’t expect anyone either. Since you caught me and all, do you wanna go for a walk? I’ll ask any questions you have if I get my hands on some ice cream.”

Claudia decided Rayla’s laugh was also beautiful and decided she was going to hear it more. The white haired girl nodded and started walking alongside her, pretty chill considering she had found out her companion wasn’t really human, but Claudia wasn’t going to complain. What a day, being busted by a human who was now walking with her to get ice cream while asking if she could talk to fishes. She was excited about what would be next. 


End file.
